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I am less hopeful for a third final season anime adaptation ... the final volume has been out a few months now and not a flicker from Japan. The industry has developed a nasty habit of racing for the "new next thing" rather than "more of what the fans already show they like".

True, although you never know. I mean there was quite the gap between the old Inuyasha series and the new season that finished it off (about 5 years).

I am less hopeful for a third final season anime adaptation ... the final volume has been out a few months now and not a flicker from Japan. The industry has developed a nasty habit of racing for the "new next thing" rather than "more of what the fans already show they like".

Well, for whatever reason, the market seems to have either conditioned the industry to act that way, or the industry conditioned the market to purchase in that way. There's a huge amount of "sales rot" for anime; sequels habitually sell 30%-40% less than their predecessor, and the discrepancy increases as time passes. While the first season sold around 9,000 copies/volume (over 6 volumes, so 50,000+ discs), the sequel averaged around 5,000 copies/volume (over 4 volumes, so ~20,000 discs), and that after only 18 months. Now that it's been 2 1/2 years, and the novels have ended, they probably figure the anime audience is largely gone, and they may not be wrong. Recent experiments with bringing franchises back for a last hurrah (Shana, Zero no Tsukaima) have shown similar "sales rot".

I suppose part of this may be because, in Japan, the anime serves to advertise the novels, but once people get hooked on the franchise, they dig into the novels and engage in the story that way. Unless an anime adaptation finds some way of adding significant value to the experience (either through creative direction, excellent production values, or some other way of distinguishing itself), there may not be a huge draw to buying the anime when you've already bought and read the novels. It's different for people in the rest of the world who don't have easy access to the novels (at least not that far ahead), because the anime remains the primary (and sometimes only) point of entry.

Anyway, am in the process of finishing a re-read of all the English novels released so far, and am eagerly anticipating Novel 6. June can't come soon enough...

I didn't know that since I haven't opened the plastic cover yet I thought there's some problem with the publisher or something that they wouldn't put the original illustration for the covers

Oh well three volumes here we go~

The reason for the cosplay covers is that book stores do not like manga style covers on anything other than manga. They believe, rightly or wrongly, that manga style covers for non-manga books don't sell well. Since Yen Press is trying to get its books in bookstores and they're a small publisher with little clout, they pretty much have to do what bookstores want. Fans overwhelmingly wanted the original covers though. After some trial and error, Yen Press came up with the solution of providing the cosplay dust jackets with the original artwork on the actual book. I think Yen Press should be lauded for coming up with a solution that pleases nearly everyone. (I say "nearly everyone" because Yen Press' bosses at Hatchet Publishing probably don't like the extra costs involved with making the 2 covers.)

So, after finishing both seasons of the anime I was left with an empty feeling that only a wonderful anime like S&W Can leave, so I came here and read every page of this thread to try and see what I'm missing out.

Now I can only pray that Yen Press will translate and release all 17 volumes and I have bought the five released so far. What do you think the chances of that are?

Also, maybe I missed it but can anyone help summarise what happens between the final episode of the anime (Volume 5) and volume 17 when they are

I hope so too - I really want to see how the story goes from here as well. They've gone on record as saying that they plan to do all of them, but you never know for sure.

IMHO none of the "cosplay covers" are quite as bad as the first. I almost like the volume 5 one (though of course it's not nearly as nice as the original illustration). One thing that bothers me is, why do they not show her face? On the first four it doesn't look odd, either because the pose is reasonably natural or it is cropped off, but on the fifth she is covering her eyes with her hands, which is quite strange.

Finally, while I still hope for a third season, I'd be happy if they just did an OVA for the very end of the story.

Spoiler for :

Mostly because I think Holo is absolutely beautiful in that wedding dress and I want to see more of that.

I've been wondering about something in the first novel. This may have been mentioned in the thread before, but I didn't see it in what I've read in the thread so far.

Spoiler for Did I read this right?:

In the first novel Lawrence and Holo were talking about why she left Yoitsu. Lawrence asked Holo if she found a friend. She said "He's a bit foolish, but very cheerful. He wasn't the least bit surprised when he saw my wolf form. I suppose he is a bit odd, but a good fellow nonetheless. He really is a fool though, sometimes I'm at a loss." I had watched the anime before reading the novel, so I took this as someone she met long ago, the person who asked Holo to stay and help the wheat fields. Reading the novel again though, I'm a bit confused at the use of the present tense to describe the friend. Reading it that way and how she's acting with Lawrence, it would seem more like she's actually talking about him and he's just too dense to notice it. Admittedly, Lawrence did react when he saw her wolf arm, but he didn't panic or turn her away, which is most likely more than she would have expected from him, and took his rather mild response as not being surprised.

Yen Press confirmed via Twitter that they have the license for novels 7-9. [Source] Furthermore, they said that they're speeding up the release schedule to 3 books a year as opposed to 2 books a year. [Source]

Yen Press confirmed via Twitter that they have the license for novels 7-9. [Source] Furthermore, they said that they're speeding up the release schedule to 3 books a year as opposed to 2 books a year. [Source]

I have been awake a total of five minutes and this is the best news I've heard all day.

Yen Press confirmed via Twitter that they have the license for novels 7-9. [Source] Furthermore, they said that they're speeding up the release schedule to 3 books a year as opposed to 2 books a year. [Source]

Yen Press confirmed via Twitter that they have the license for novels 7-9. [Source] Furthermore, they said that they're speeding up the release schedule to 3 books a year as opposed to 2 books a year. [Source]

I'll go best news all week. After the failure of several other companies to complete series that were completely published in Japan (ARIA, Moon Phase, etc) I tend to start getting nervous any more as the buzz for a series fades.

I'll just join the chorus to say that I too am thrilled with the news. I hope that, despite the accelerated schedule, they're able to continue having Paul Starr do all the translation, and have the same standard for editing. And of course, here's to hoping as well that the franchise will continue do well enough to ensure continued licensing all the way to the end. The fact it continues to appear on the bestseller lists every release is a good sign!